Tiger comfortable playing Firestone’s South Course
Tiger Woods has always felt comfortable playing the South Course at Firestone Country Club, as his seven victories in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational will attest. In 2000, he won wire-to-wire by a whopping 11 strokes and set the tournament record with a 21-under-par score of 259. He also shares the 18-hole course mark, posting a 9-under 61 in the second round in 2000.
Tiger returns to Akron, Ohio, this week, where he seeks his fifth PGA TOUR title of the season on the 7,400-yard, par-70 layout. In 48 competitive rounds on the course, he has averaged 68.396. Woods has earned more than $9 million at Firestone, the most of any course he has played on. This week’s top prize is $1.575 million.
The 37-year-old Woods is coming off a tie for sixth two weeks ago in The Open Championship. He ranks first in the Official World Golf Ranking, FedExCup point standings and all-around ranking, and he leads the PGA TOUR in scoring.
Woods was pleased with his play at Muirfield but struggled with the pace of the greens. He’ll look to get untracked with his putter this week and hopes to build positive momentum for next week’s 95th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, N.Y., the final major of 2013. Tiger played a practice round at Oak Hill on Tuesday.
There are 72 players competing this week, and there is no cut. Woods begins first-round play Thursday at 9:20 a.m. ET with 21-year-old Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who posted top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open and The Open Championship this year.
